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8 December 4, 2015 News BULLSEYE
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Arnold test teams prep F-35 for
first external weapons release
By Deidre Ortiz
Arnold Engineering Development Complex Public
Affairs
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. — U.S. Air Force photo by Rick Goodfriend
Testing in the aerodynamic wind tun-
nels at the Arnold Engineering Devel- Initial weapon integration testing for the F-35 was conducted at the Arnold Engineering Development Complex. Pictured here
opment Complex helped prepare the are multiple exposures of a Guided Bomb Unit-31 Joint Direct Attack Munition, separating from the F-35 Lightning II aircraft in
Navy variant of the F-35 Lightning II the four-foot transonic wind tunnel during testing at AEDC in 2007.
for its first external weapons release,
officials said.
During a flight completed by the F-35
Integrated Task Force in September,
four 500-pound Guided Bomb Unit-12
laser-guided inert bombs were suc-
cessfully released from the pylons on
wings of an F-35C at a Navy test range
in Maryland during test runs.
The first F-35 weapon integration
tests were conducted at AEDC, said
Aerospace Testing Alliance senior en-
gineer David Anderson, who added that
the GBU-12 has specifically been tested
on six weapon separation or Captive
Trajectory Support System tests at the
complex.
“These tests were conducted from the
conventional takeoff and landing, short
takeoff/vertical landing and carrier
variant aircraft variants and obtained
separation characteristics of the GBU-
12, and various other weapons, from
the weapon’s bay internal carriage and
external wing positions,” he said.
Based on Anderson’s calculations, it’s
estimated that the 1/15th scale Lock-
heed Martin F-35 model has been tested
in a 4T wind tunnel for more than 3,300
user occupancy hours at a cost exceed-
ing $12 million.
“I am very proud of the work that we
accomplished on the F-35 program in
the Tunnel 4T at AEDC,” he said. “The
individual tests were long and complex,
and in most cases, required the unique
capabilities and expertise available only
here at AEDC. I believe that through
our commitment to meet the customer’s
expectations, we (helped) deliver a
product second to none.”
According to a statement from the
aircraft’s joint program office, the re-
cent f light “confirmed the accuracy of
the predicted release trajectory.”
Last November, the Navy successfully
landed F-35Cs on an aircraft carrier
off the coast of San Diego, California.
The service expects to declare initial
operational capability in 2018.